What Is UGC?
User-generated content (UGC) is any content created about a brand, product, or service by its customers or fans, rather than by the brand's marketing team. UGC includes customer photos and videos on social media, written reviews and ratings, testimonials, unboxing videos, and hashtag posts.
UGC is one of the most powerful marketing assets an ecommerce brand can possess, because it is inherently authentic - real people sharing real experiences - which gives it a credibility that no amount of production budget can replicate.
UGC vs. Branded Content
Branded content is produced to a specific brief by the marketing team or an agency. It is polished, on-message, and consistent - but can feel detached or promotional. UGC is unpolished, spontaneous, and personal - and precisely because of this, it is trusted more by the people who see it.
88% of consumers say authenticity is a key factor in their purchasing decisions, and UGC consistently outperforms branded content on authenticity metrics. Combining branded quality (through tools like Bryft) with UGC authenticity (through creator briefs or incentivised sharing) is the optimal content strategy for modern ecommerce.
Collecting UGC at Scale
- Create a branded hashtag and promote it across packaging, email, and social
- Email customers 7–14 days post-purchase asking for a photo or video review
- Run UGC contests and campaigns with prizes for the best content
- Partner with micro-creators for UGC-style sponsored content
- Feature UGC prominently on your website and PDPs to signal that sharing is valued
Real-World Example
A fitness supplements brand launches a "Show Your Stack" hashtag campaign encouraging customers to share their supplement arrangement with the brand's products featured. They receive 2,400 tagged posts in 30 days. The best 100 are curated into a shoppable UGC gallery on the website, featured in email campaigns, and used in paid social ads. Pages featuring the UGC gallery convert at 2.1x the rate of standard product pages.